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Monday, March 10, 2008

APS Chooses New Superintendent

Profile of New Super: Winston Brooks Saw More Grads

By Zsombor Peter
Journal Staff Writer
    Winston Brooks took little time displaying his trademark sense of humor after a divided board named him the new superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools on Sunday evening by a 5-2 vote.
    "Just so long as I don't have to hug the guys," he said while accepting the board's congratulations.
    A "thrilled to death" but very casual Brooks, 55, the current superintendent of Wichita, Kan., public schools, also wasted little time settling into his new chair next to the board. As his first order of business, Brooks said he would hold a series of public meetings throughout the community and meet with local government and Chamber of Commerce officials.
    Besides naming Brooks, the board approved a $250,000 base salary for Albuquerque's new superintendent. Benefits will bring his annual earnings to $276,000, according to APS spokesman Rigo Chavez, about $1,000 above what Brooks has been earning in Wichita.
    Board president Paula Maes said Brooks' experience and track record in Wichita set him apart from the rest of the five finalists vying for the job. During his 10-year tenure with Wichita Public Schools, Brooks has been recognized for both improving overall student achievement and closing the local achievement gap.
    "I believe that he is the dynamic leader that will bring achievement and change" to APS, member Gordon Rowe said.
    Fellow board member Dolores Griego said she settled on Brooks for the "unity" he would bring to APS.
    There wasn't total unity on the board, however.
    Marty Esquivel, who voted against Brooks, took his turn to speak to weigh in for Linda Sink, APS' associate superintendent of instruction and its acting superintendent since December.
    Sink, he said, would have been "a better fit because she understood our community and the needs that go along with it."
    Esquivel was also won over by the detailed plan Sink had laid out for closing the district's own achievement gap.
    Though he'd started out the search believing the district needed the fresh perspective of an outsider, he said, "(Sink) really over time earned my trust."
    Board member Robert Lucero, who cast the other dissenting vote, said he was "disheartened" by members who said they believed in the need for a local superintendent in the beginning but failed to follow through.
    Lucero also suggested the district was paying too much for Brooks, since Sink had agreed to take the job for $200,000.
    After whittling the list of finalists down Sunday morning, Maes said, the board spent the rest of the afternoon debating over Brooks and Sink.
    Choosing Brooks has also divided some community groups.
    Ralph Arellanes, vice chairman of the Hispanic Round Table, said he was "deeply disappointed" in the board's decision to name an outsider over two "rock solid" local finalists, Sink and APS Assistant Superintendent for Continuous Improvement Diego Gallegos.
    "That's what we need, somebody that knows the system here and the issues," Arellanes said, someone who could "hit the ground running."
    Brooks made a better impression on the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
    "He has leadership skills in exactly the areas APS must tackle," President Terri Cole wrote in an e-mail to the Journal following the board's vote. "He looks like the right guy at the right time to us."
    Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein said he also made a good impression on teachers during a public forum with them Friday.
    "It was clear that he wanted to work with the teachers," she said of Brooks, who also comes with a strong recommendation from the teachers union in Wichita.
    Brooks said he would officially take over at APS no later than July 1, but possibly sooner.